The Crookshank Redemption

Humbled by his 2009 suspension, Rainmen vet has grown into a team player

Eric Crookshank, a power forward with the Halifax Rainmen basketball team, shoots hoops with his daughter, Layla, in the gym at the Prospect Road Community Centre outside Halifax. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)

FOR ERIC CROOKSHANK, it came down to a simple choice: Check your baggage or pack your bags.

The six-foot-eight power forward from 4,800 kilometres away has made a home and a family — well, actually two, if you count Andre Levingston and the Halifax Rainmen — in Nova Scotia since his arrival in 2007.

The longest-serving Rainman, now in the twilight of his career, has already pondered what comes next when he finally hangs up his size 14 Nikes. That future could very well include a role in the organization that gave him a second chance after he nearly talked his way out of town three years ago when he had the city at his feet.

But it took some soul-searching, some tough love and a new love to get to where he is today.

You could call it The Crookshank Redemption. And, like Andy Dufresne did in Shawshank prison, Crookshank grew as a person — and a player — once he accepted his punishment and figured out how to get beyond it.

Of course, Crookshank wasn’t serving a life sentence and he didn’t have to tunnel his way out of the Halifax Citadel to find his inner peace.

"Kids were looking up to me," the 33-year-old says, looking back at a career epiphany.

"I realized in order for me to be a good leader, I have to change what I’m doing, the way I’m living, the way I’m acting, the way I’m handling authority and things like that."

At first blush, you wouldn’t notice any real difference in Crookshank.

An accomplished drummer with his own jazz band and gospel group, he’s a born entertainer.

Glad-handing with fans and

officials before a game. Exhorting the Halifax Metro Centre faithful to dial up the noise during a rally. Finishing off a thunderous dunk with a theatrical flourish.

He’s never been shy about sharing his opinion, for better or worse. He likes to talk, his boss agrees, and has no problem carrying the conversation if the topic turns to himself.

But listen carefully and consider the sum total of the parts over the last three-plus seasons and you understand he’s in a far different place than the player from Oakland, Calif., who rolled into Halifax in 2007 marching to the beat of his own drum.

"I think at his age right now and at this point of his career, he’s ready to win a championship now and it shows with all the things that he’s sacrificing," says Levingston, the Rainmen owner and general manager.

"He’s just really grown a lot. He’s gotten married here in the city, he has a (family), so he’s had to change as a man who he was when he first arrived."

That guy, Crookshank says, had a "tough mentality." Raised in poverty in a single-parent family, he lost his mother to ovarian cancer and had to assume the role of provider for his sister and an older brother who suffered from depression.

But he was an immediate hit in Halifax. Nicknamed Air Canada for his high-flying slams, he averaged 20.5 points per game and was a first-team all-star for the Rainmen, then an expansion franchise in the American Basketball Association.

He had sponsorship deals. Children were wearing replica jerseys with his name on the back. Haligonians welcomed him with open arms.

If he rubbed teammates the wrong way, if he and his bosses didn’t always see eye to eye, if he spent a little too much time soaking up the city’s nightlife and all the trappings of being the star of the city’s new professional sports team, so what?

"I was very arrogant," he says, watching some of his teammates shoot around after a practice. "It was me first and whoever second. I didn’t care about anybody but myself."

His wake-up call came on Jan. 14, 2009, and it was a loud one.

After sounding off to the media about being benched during a loss, he and then-coach Rick Lewis locked horns yet again. That was the last straw for Levingston. He’d had enough of Crookshank’s insubordination and me-first attitude.

He suspended Crookshank for the season, four games in, and decided to send him home. Both say now that, at least on that day, they figured the face of the franchise was done in Halifax.

Levingston, though, had a change of heart. Well known for his willingness to give people a second opportunity, he chose instead to have Crookshank serve his suspension in the city and speak to local schoolchildren about personal responsibility as part of the team’s community outreach program.

By then, he’d met his future wife Tamara, a Dartmouth native whom he married in 2010. The couple have two children — Layla, who’ll celebrate her second birthday next month, and Joshua, born just three weeks ago — and live in Hatchet Lake, just outside Halifax.

Reinstated to the team, he followed up the next year with a personal tour de force. Challenged by new coach Les Berry to become a more complete player, he responded by finishing second in the voting for Premier Basketball League MVP and was named defensive player of the year.

Last season, he was asked to come off the bench and yield his starting position to the younger and more offensively polished Josh Dollard. Undaunted, he topped the PBL in rebounding again and repeated as the loop’s top defensive player.

This year, in Josep (Pep) Claros’s rotation, he’s playing fewer minutes than ever before but continues to lead the Rainmen in rebounding and relishes his role as a sparkplug reserve.

The old Crookshank would have bristled at the mere suggestion that he sacrifice offensive production for the sake of team defence. Come off the bench? Play less than half the game? Not a chance.

The new and improved version, though, calls this his best season ever, not because of individual accomplishments but because of the team’s sparkling record. He was the first to herald this month’s signing of free agent Richard Anderson, even though the centre’s arrival figures to cut further into his floor time.

Crookshank and Taliek Brown, the guard who led University of Connecticut to an NCAA title in 2004, are the captains of the Rainmen, 16-6 in their first National Basketball League of Canada season. Crookshank plays the role of the joker in the locker-room, trying to keep his teammates loose before a game.

He wasn’t joking around, though, after their disappointing season opener on Nov. 3 in London, Ont. In an ironic role reversal, it was Crookshank who lectured the team about what he said was a poor attitude and a lack of respect for the coaching staff, sparking a confrontation that led to his suspension for one game and the dismissal of talented but temperamental centre DeAndre Thomas.

A few seasons ago, that would have described Crookshank. But this time his words resonate with his boss.

"Crook likes to hear himself talk. We all know that," Levingston says with a smile. "But he’s been saying the right things. He’s really putting in the guys’ ears that we need to practise hard, we need to leave it out on the floor and he’s leading by example. He’s not just talking. He’s matured as a person and we’re glad he’s still here."

I just want you to know I am so proud of you, from day one... and yes you have grown into a wonderful man, I'm sure mommy is watching you every step of the way screaming out loud (well done son well done):) and I'm so happy that you have married Tamara she is a beautiful women you can truly see the god in her and my niece and nephew will follow in both of you guys steps.. I miss you all and love you all.. Well done brother well done I love u.